Developer Interviews
We are catching up on a few more Blizzcon interviews that we didn't get in our first round, this time from Vanion.

Pre-Expansion Patch

The patch with the events leading up to Warlords of Draenor will be released close to the expansion release date.

We have met Garrosh's friend with interesting ideas about how to use time on the Timeless Isle. We will hear a little bit more about this friend in the pre-expansion patch.

The vision with Anduin and Garrosh is a hint, but we will see more of the story in the pre-expansion patch.

Story

Khadgar from Outland will accompany us in the expansion, as well as coming to warn us that something is going on with the Dark Portal.

The Warlords of Draenor starting experience will send you through the Dark Portal to try and shut it down from the inside. It is roughly an hour's worth of content where you are trying to stop the Iron Horde.

It is possible that the Alliance and Horde will work together against the Iron Horde at some point in the expansion.

The Isle of Thunder style solo scenarios might be used for a few of the major points during the questing experience.

The Blood Elf Paladins have an interesting history with the Naaru, so they will show up again in Warlords of Draenor.

The Dark Iron Dwarves will go through the Dark Portal and be a part of the Warlords of Draenor story as well.

Garrosh gets things set in motion, but then things are out of his control. We will see him for a while and then find out what happens to him.

Misc

Players will likely work together with their guild to cover all of the different specializations for Garrisons.

Lorewalker Cho doesn't really fit this expansion, so it isn't likely we will see much of him.

Dave Kosak used to be the Lead Quest Designer, and is now Lead Narrative designer. The job was so big that it was split into Lead Narrative Designer and Lead Quest Designer.

Happy New Year!

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker)

Happy New Year, everybody! As 2013 comes to a close, it’s time to usher in 2014 Azeroth-style. Beginning at 6 a.m. realm time on December 31, the skies above all the major cities will begin to dance with fireworks!

Every hour on the hour, you can ooh and ahh at the dazzling display of colors while sipping brew and tasting some delicious food from all around Azeroth. Join the festivities, and say hello to the new year! One word of caution, though—if you’re planning to enjoy the fireworks in Booty Bay, word has it the guards there have been celebrating a bit too hard and aren’t likely to enforce the town rules.

Blue Tweets

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

ClassesIt's difficult for players to learn a class or spec when relative strength of abilities are drastically different at 90
Agreed. The removal of base damage will help solve this. (Source)

Curious, is focus on balance going to go down next expac with the item squish? (cont)
Not a bit. The absolute value of variances is not a concern to us. We're concerned about % differences. (Source)

Geek question. Reason for AP-based attacks in mostly Weapon Damage era? Legacy and "ain't-broke," or diversified scaling?
Some attacks don't fit, kit-wise, doing Weapon Damage. For example, Immolation Trap would feel weird doing weapon damage. (Source)should good scaling be sacrificed to avoid "weirdness"? How many players even know what's behind the damage
That's actually a common misconception that isn't mathematically accurate. (Source)
Whether an ability scales off of Weapon Damage or AP has absolutely *zero* impact on its scaling. (Source)AP attacks scale better with cooldowns/procs unless weapon damage % is ridiculously high.
That doesn't even make sense, since %WD *includes* AP. (Source)You see abilities that rise in relative value based on procs when AP vs Weapon Damage comes into play. See: Execute vs Slam
Execute raises in value compared to Slam, during procs, because we want it to. Completely unrelated to AP vs WD. (Source)Two attacks with same average damage, AP based attack will scale better than weapon attack, weapon attack higher base
Again, math does not support that. It's a myth. (Source)didn't make a new thread cause I didnt want to make a big deal out of it, just posted in offtopic lounge
Yeah, talking past each other. I'm concerned about the myth that WD/AP leads to scaling 'problems'. Don't spread that myth. (Source)Sorry, what I meant is AP scaling attacks are typically higher AP ratio than weapon damage scaling attacks.
Not by any convention, intention, or reason, if even true (which I'm dubious of). AP vs WD *does not matter* for scaling rate. (Source)

Is the goal to highlight the identity of the specs? I.E. assassination about poison, sub about stealth?
Yes. That's quite hard, especially in the case of stealth, but we're going to do what we can. (Source)

has there been an explanation for the removal of snapshotting on DoTs? i feel it's what makes my warlock fun, and i'm worried
It was a skill-cap thing that was too high of a cap, and actually was just handled by addons, unfortunately. (Source)
We're working on a Watercooler with more info about WoD changes that are coming up, including that. (Source)A skillcap that is too high? Yikes, that doesn't sound like Blizzard. It had too big impact though.
Many things contributed to the problem. Generally a high skillcap isn't a problem, but trivialized by addons. (Source)

Any chance the new Alliance racials will have on-use PVE procs like Troll/Orcs do today? A level playing field would be amazing.
A level playing field would be amazing, and is the goal. That does not mandate On-Use buttons for everyone. (Source)It's only a ~1% diff, I know. But the new stats offer a chance to end years of Alli players looking at WowP and seeing only red.
Indeed, which is why we're serious about balancing them. Please don't think that "not active = not balanced". Simply false. (Source)Hearing "separate but equal" is disheartening and just feels like an excuse when it's gotten this bad.
You could apply that same logic to 1% crit vs 1% haste. It's still wrong. (Source)

Here's one for ya: Any idea if melee's gonna get more <3 in Warlords? People are (jokingly) saying to just cut melee for Mythic.
"Range>Melee" used to be true. Our (and community) data shows that we got them extremely balanced in SoO. What do people think? (Source)melee dps ought to be higher when on target to compensate for having to move out of bad. Tunneling isn’t fun long term.
Would you notice if it were? (Source)

A lot of classes seem to benefit from haste. Too many maybe?
We don't think so. We want them all to. (Source)

Are there any plans to to make hardcasted spells more appealing relative to instants for casters next expansion, esp. in pvp?
Yes, we want to tone down instants, relative to cast time abilities. (Source)

is there a spec which will get an overhaul? Ele as example hasnt changed since wotlk. Gettin boring
Overhauling a spec may please people who are bored with it; will also alienate people happy with it. No 'overhauls' planned for WoD. (Source)
But incremental improvements? Absolutely. (Source)

Death Knight (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator) How are they faring in bis gear against other classes (5.4)? Why do DKs always start strong an xpak then struggle to catch up?
People see patterns where they aren't. Nothing to do with scaling as you imagine. DKs simply lacking fights to shine this tier. (Source)

Druid (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)Big part of feral rotation is lining TF with DoT application. That is gone now.
No, that is not gone. TF applies to the whole DoT applied during it. (Source)

Hunter (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)So disappointed that AoC affects Feign Death and Camo. We gain zero benefit from those in PvE
The fact that you're "disappointed" about some abilities being affected by Readiness makes me think that they're at the cost of other ones you want more, you think. That's not the case. We put enough throughput abilities on it to tune it how we want, then put some additional things on, purely as a bonus. It affecting Feign Death and Camo is not costing anything. (Source)

Will Readiness affect hunter pet abilities at all (e.g. rabid), or is it just going to be the same abilities as current trinket?
Different abilities than trinket. Pet abilities are valid choices for us to apply it to, but not ready to list specifics yet. (Source)

Ever considered taking Arcane Shot off the GCD?
Unlikely. That'd make Hunters even more button spammy, and more importantly would cause PvP burst problems. (Source)

Mage (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)any plans to address the horrid spell that is Alter Time in WoD?
In case it wasn't obvious, loaded questions like this are some of the least valuable forms of feedback. Regardless, yes. (Source)

Monk (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)Two concerns for WW monks seem to be lack of available burst at the start of an arena, and lust at pull situations.
Some WWs are finding Chi Brew to be extremely useful in overcoming that weakness. Have you tried it? (Source)

Or I should say, FoF just isnt good enough to use on CD, because you cant in todays raid, you have to move too much.
One of the wisest raid leaders I've raided with always said, "When it comes to movement, always think 15sec ahead." (Source)I'm actually a fan of FoF, but it is pretty much impossible to use it on CD, even when being proactive.
Using it exactly on cooldown is extremely hard, commonly impossible. But it's the ideal to strive for. (Source)If the goal is you usually can't use it on cd, why not reduce the cd, so when opp comes up you can use it? pvp implications?
That would just change the ideal that you strive for. The goal is that you want to use it as much as possible, sometimes on CD. (Source)

For the new mistweaver stances, will MWs still count as melee in both?
Undecided, but leaning toward yes. Don't want someone Fistweaving to feel like they can't swap back to Mistweaving in emergency (Source)

Xuen only does 5% of WW damage; AoC would not change Xuen being pathetic for mid-late game WW due to no scaling. Out of touch?
Xuen does more than that, and AoC would be a scalar on that, increasing its value significantly, beyond how it was balanced. (Source)

is this just to shift dmg abilitys into a new bar to free hotkeys or is there another reason?
It's to separate them, so we can make them both good, without players cherrypicking the best abilities from each. (Source)

what about a fistweave CD for WW? DPS converts to heals like vampiric embrace. Doesn't have to be a stance
We recognize WW being a little light on utility, but are still considering solutions. (Source)

Paladin (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)Is there a chance that ret may get consecration back? Even if it isn't super great, it's still a very popular spell.
I understand the appeal, aesthetically. However, would you really want a spell that "isn't super great" filling empty GCDs? (Source)

Rogue (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)Speaking of haste are there any plans to do something about rogue energy? Feels terrible at exp start and super spammy by theend
It's a problem without an easy solution, but we're working on some ideas. (Source)

Shaman (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)Do you plan on reworking Earthquake? Or will you scrap it? Would love some interaction with fulmination (1/2)
Not sure of Fulmination interaction, but we do hope to improve Earthquake so that it's not ignored most of the time. (Source)

Warrior (Forums / Skills / Talent Calculator)Fury and Arms Single target dps is quite different. fury being alot stronger. In Wod will they be much closer?
Yes, though I'd caution you that the difference is always overblown by the community, and a self-fulfilling prophecy. (Source)Thx for answering. Though I wouldnt say this would be a self-fulfilling proph when its been quite apparent through each xpac 1/3
(Hypothetical numbers) If the actual difference is 10%, the community will perceive it as 20%. We still want to fix it. (Source)

will prot warriors benefit from Haste in WoD?
Yes. (Source)out of historical curiosity, how come they didnt in MoP, but could in the previous expansions?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Prot Warriors gained rage with haste prior to MoP, but weren't usually rage limited, if I recall... (Source)

Flex RaidingMy flex team of 13-22 people cannot down Nazgrim. We hit 30% and stall because we can't kill the adds fast enough.
Reviewed some data on this with Ion. Nothing unusual about kill rates or anything on Nazgrim. Suggest maximizing multidotting. (Source)Thanks for looking into it! I appreciate it. We're not running with many multidotters but we'll take your advice to heart!
Just being brief due to 140chr. More than just multidotting; just focus on efficiently killing adds. (Source)

I'm mostly interested as to what the Dark Irons will be up to! I love dwarf lore and having them pop into Draenor is quite the twist.

Clearly they are going to join forces with the orcs of Draenor to form the Dark Iron Horde.

He is the life of guilds he has never joined.
He once had a noobish moment- just to see what it felt like.
If he were to beat you in a duel, you would have to fight the strong urge to thank him.
The Lunar Elders have a holiday in which they honor him.
He can speak Darnassian. In Orcish.
He is: The Most Interesting Man in the World of Warcraft.

Another thing that gets me is the general chat when inside the Garrison. It totally reminds me of every prison film I've ever watched. The prisoners confined to their cells are talking to each other through the walls. Their chat is mostly pointless, vulgar and revolving around stuff they ll do once they get out. This is EXACTLY the content of every Garrison chat I've ever had to tolerate.